1 Table of Contents Age 6 to 12 Entries ................................................................................. 4 AGES 6-9 FIRST PLACE: Kraken Attack, by Finnegan Connors, age 9.............................. 5 AGES 6-9 SECOND PLACE: A Mid-Summer Scare, by Adarsh Payyakkil, age 8............... 6 AGES 6-9 THIRD PLACE: The Night of the Death of Gloria, by Benjamin Gage, age 9 .... 8 AGES 10-12 FIRST PLACE: The Madness, by Olivia Chatfield-Scott, age 12 .................. 10 AGES 10-12 SECOND PLACE: The Haunted Dress, by Katie McDonald, age 11............. 12 AGES 10-12 THIRD PLACE: The Pencil, by Emma Beatty, age 11 ................................... 14 The Last Seen Family, by Jaden Aguilera, 4th grade................................................................ 17 The Haunted House, by Kylee Bacon, 4th grade ...................................................................... 18 It's Raining Black Cats and Wolves, by Annabelle Beatty, age 8............................................. 19 October 31, 2013, by Cedar Bennett, age 12............................................................................ 21 Creatures, by Audrey Carter, age 7 .......................................................................................... 23 The House, by Caleb Cenderelli, age 10 .................................................................................. 25 The Woman Who Had a Thing for Souls, by Savannah Chavez, age 12 ................................. 26 Flarret Furdie, the Scared, by Leander Didier, age 9 ............................................................... 29 Griffin At School, by Cara Dove, 4th grade ............................................................................ 31 The Red Door, by Hadden Eckert, age 10 ................................................................................ 32 Frightful Mountain Adventure, by Annelise Eldredge, age 8................................................... 33 The Mystery Story, by Gabby Franklin, age 9 ......................................................................... 34 The Haunted House, by Cooper Guirey, age 10....................................................................... 35 Enter if You Dare, by Sophie Johnson, age 10 ......................................................................... 37 The Deep Creepy City, by Andrew Kahn, 4th grade ................................................................. 39 The Spooky Story, By Haze Kammerer, 4th grade ................................................................... 40 The Forever Frightened Family, by Sofia Mackey, 4th grade................................................... 42 The Haunting Hour, by Mikyah Moore, 4th grade .................................................................... 43 The Legend of the Deathly Shadow, by Aritra Nag, age 11..................................................... 45 The Tarantula, by Aubrey Petersen, age 10.............................................................................. 47 15 Days in a Canyon, by Nate Redstone, age 10 ...................................................................... 49 A Sleepover Gone Bad, by Ella Ryan, age 10 .......................................................................... 50 The Halloween That Never Ended, by Tess Ryan, age 8.......................................................... 52 The Shadow, by Linnea Somerstep, age 10 .............................................................................. 54
2 The Monster That Came to Woodland, by Brendan Stanley, age 9 ......................................... 56 A Pile of Bones, by Jensen Tanner, age 10 .............................................................................. 58 On Halloween Night, by Kara Tromble, age 12....................................................................... 60 The Black Cat, by Cora Watkins-Brown, age 8........................................................................ 62 The Where Wolf Problem, by Alecia Whitton, age 10 ............................................................. 63 Age 13 to 17 Entries ............................................................................. 65 AGES 13-17 FIRST PLACE: Siblings, By Robert Dekari, Age 16 ...................................... 66 AGES 13-17 SECOND PLACE: Trick or Treat, My Princess, by Amy Beery, age 17 ....... 68 AGES 13-17 THIRD PLACE: Nothings, by Mounira Aboellail, age 16 ............................. 70 A Strange Encounter, by Ben Ballinger, age 13 ....................................................................... 72 The Witch, by Claire Chung, age 13 ........................................................................................ 73 Jack O’ Lanterns and a Pile of Bricks, by Gareth Eckert, age 13 ............................................ 79 The Basement, by Isabel Hills, age 13 ..................................................................................... 81 Reaper, by Madison Kaine, age 15 ........................................................................................... 83 Seeing You, by Maddie Leidholt, age 17.................................................................................. 85 There is No Escape, by Brandon Reynolds, age 14 .................................................................. 88 Windfall, by Isabella Rogge, age 16......................................................................................... 90 The House of Secrets, by Vanessa Torres, age 17.................................................................... 92 Mouse, by Shaley Toureene, age 13 ......................................................................................... 94 The Figure, by Emma Walston.................................................................................................. 96 The Artist, by Jessica Ward, age 15 ......................................................................................... 98 Over Age 18 Entries........................................................................... 100 FIRST PLACE: The Lighthouse on Crooked Man Island, By Nathan F. Johnson............. 101 SECOND PLACE: Night Conversations, by Charles Kaine ............................................... 104 THIRD PLACE: The Hunger House, by Miriam Engle ...................................................... 107 Reflection’s Child, by Camille Anthony ................................................................................. 110 Spike, by Sally Bowlby............................................................................................................ 112 Gifted, by Stina Branson......................................................................................................... 114 Kibbles and Bites, by Marc Chimonas ................................................................................... 116 The First Turning, by Ricardo E. de la Garza ........................................................................ 118 Through the Glass, by Brian Diaczun..................................................................................... 119 Ghost Train, by Douglas P. Dotts........................................................................................... 120
3 Just Another Face, by Don Edwards....................................................................................... 122 Knock, Knock. by Melissa Keller........................................................................................... 124 A True Story of the Unknown History of Somerville, by Sonia Koetting.............................. 126 The Writers Dream, by Benjamin Koschke............................................................................. 129 Lobo's Birthday Surprise, by Nicole Kraipowich ................................................................... 131 Loose! by Jackie Leidholt....................................................................................................... 133 What Hides in Sunlight, By Ayah McGuinness ...................................................................... 135 Subconscious, by Benjamin Pauls .......................................................................................... 137 The Old Mine, by Shari Petersen ........................................................................................... 139 Shadows in Between, by Rachael Platten............................................................................... 141 The Dawn of Eternal Midnight, by Randy Reynolds .............................................................. 144 Native Tongue, by Laura Fairleigh Richardson..................................................................... 146 First Frights, by Briana Elizabeth Rousey .............................................................................. 148 Grandma's House, by Cara Rousey......................................................................................... 151 Dolly, by Susan Rumph........................................................................................................... 153 Jack, by Jen Ryan.................................................................................................................... 156 The Rock and The Ghost, by Betty J. Simecka................................................................... 158 The Mantle Piece, by Dylan Smith.......................................................................................... 160 Dark Eyes, by Joey Sutter....................................................................................................... 162 The Bridge, by Thomas Vega.................................................................................................. 165 Idaho Springs, by Erin Virgil.................................................................................................. 167 Phantom of the Operating Room, by Kelvin L. Woelk............................................................ 169
4 Age 6 to 12 Entries
5 AGES 6-9 FIRST PLACE: Kraken Attack, by Finnegan Connors, age 9 “One dark night, there were sailors lost upon a stormy sea. They had been out there for many a long year. Suddenly, the ship bumped against something. They braced for impact and death, but nothing happened. The crew slowly looked over the railing, and they found nothing but a pebbly beach. They slowly filed off the ship. No sooner than had they all abandoned the ship, the “pebbly beach” rose out of the water. The Kraken! The crew screamed, and that was the last noise they ever made.” Mr. K turned off his flashlight. As always, Carter, unlike the other Boy Scouts, wasn’t scared of campfire stories. He decided to go fishing that night. Carter grabbed his fishing pole, his worms, and his boating oar. He was very headstrong, and he had a special talent of holding his breath under water for three minutes. He walked down to the lake, which was very far away, so it was midnight by the time he reached the boat. He tore the rain cover off his boat, and who was he face-to-face with but Mr. K. The Boy Scout leader grinned, and he started changing form, and only then did Carter realize that K stood for Kraken! Carter quickly jumped into the boat, sending the Kraken tumbling out of the craft and into the lake. Carter rowed out into the lake as fast as he could. The Kraken was a squid, so of course it could catch Carter, even though he paddled furiously. Carter felt a tremor, and the Kraken rose right under the boat. Carter fell into the water. The last things he saw were the Kraken’s suckers, which were nine feet in diameter. Then he blacked out. Carter woke in the Kraken’s lair. Of course he wasn’t scared, but the scenery was surprising. He was in an upturned boat with a hatch in the bottom, and there was no water. It was filled with algae and lit by only a single lantern. Manacles, which were hung on a hook in the wall, suspended him and his feet just barely scraped the floor. It was a tricky situation, but he knew that he could get free. Carter’s first try at escaping was trying to wiggle the manacles off, but all he accomplished was chafing his wrists. However, he had other ways to escape. His second attempt was trying to pull the manacles off the hook, but his feet couldn’t get close enough to the ground to even try. He realized that the Kraken was gone, so his third attempt might be successful yet. He groped around, and his fingers met a skinny, sharp, rock. He put it into the locks of each of his cuffs, and they fell off his arms with a dull clunk. Carter grabbed the hatch, and swam upwards to freedom. The Kraken had been waiting for this, and it swam upward also. Carter was never heard of again. The Kraken turned into Mr. K again. He walked back to the Boy Scouts’ camp. No one asked a single thing about Carter. Underwater, his bones slowly floated down to the floor with the rest of the Kraken’s victims. The Kraken was still at large!
6 AGES 6-9 SECOND PLACE: A Mid-Summer Scare, by Adarsh Payyakkil, age 8 It was 3:00 PM in the woods where Alex was camping. Even though the sun was still up, Alex shivered. You see, Alex was not the “big adventurous type”. His mom and dad had gone hiking. So, there he lay outside his tent staring at the sky. For Alex, the forest had always been a depressing place. Alex wished he was back at his home. “No one camps for two weeks. No one except us”, Alex thought. The trees were very tall and blocked out the sun. Gloomy and dark – not a good combination for an eleven year old on his own in the middle of nowhere, Alex thought to himself. As he was lying down, he heard a sound. “Mom, dad, is that you”? , he called out. No answer. He stood up and looked around. There was no one. “Was it my imagination?” he thought. Then he heard a piercing scream. Alex tried to run back to the tent, but before he got in, he tripped on something. He tried to get up and run. And that is when he saw the man with a scarred face, but his body was not human at all. Alex woke up, found himself locked in a cell and realized he was a prisoner. He looked around and peered outside through the only window in sight. Alex saw what seemed to be a side of a flying saucer. Alex felt his blood freeze. “Where am I”? Alex thought. “Am I being transferred to a different planet, an unknown one?” he wondered. He took a few deep breaths and found himself calming down. Right now he had to break out. He saw some keys on the wall outside his cell. “One of those might unlock my cell”, he thought. He tried to reach the keys through the cell bars but a second later the keys exploded. The shards went flying. One of the pieces went deep into Alex’s left arm. He screamed in agony. He heard a deep muffled cackle that reminded him of a scary he movie he saw last Halloween. “Why would anyone want to kill me”? Alex thought. When sharp shards come straight at you, it’s no fun, especially in a filthy, dark and damp dungeon. And the he felt, something black was drinking the blood oozing from Alex’s wound…… and he passed out. Alex looked around. Darkness! He felt like a tiny bug about to be crushed by a giant foot. He banged on the cell gates and miraculously they opened. He saw a long corridor. Alex walked and walked and walked. The corridor seemed endless. Then he felt like the walls around the corridor closing in on him. He looked to make sure it was just his imagination. That is when he noticed the claw marks on the walls. He felt something was wrong. Suddenly the wall burst open. Something that looked like a black hole sucked Alex in. He felt like acid was in his blood and his energy was being drained. He wanted to scream but he was too tired to even scream. He fell in a heap. “Why would someone be so cruel?” he thought. “Put him back into his cell”, a deep voice said. He felt himself being dragged back into a cell, but this time, it was a different one.
7 It had been three hours since he was in his new cell. And by that time, he had regained some of his energy. He looked around. This cell room had no windows but had a number lock. “May be I can crack the code and get out of this cell” Alex thought. He was very good at puzzles and cracked the code for the lock easily. He quietly ran through the corridor. He carefully dodged death rays and laser guns and saw weird animals. Finally, Alex walked into a large room. The man with the scarred face materialized in front of him. To his surprise, the man with the scarred face screamed at the same time Alex started screaming. “You… are… scared… of… me…?” asked the scarred face. Alex nodded cautiously. “My... n-name… i-is… A-Alex … a-and I a-am from the p-planet eearth”, he said. “M-mine is Ron di Doom and I a-am from p-planet Zartok-5”, said the scarred face. “I was banished from my tribe. I stole some food for my family and I was caught and banished”. “How did I get here?” asked Alex. “My powers, they go crazy sometimes, and I unknowingly brought you here” Ron said. “Then why did you keep me in the prison?” Alex asked. “I was scared of you and so, to protect myself, I had to use my Robots to keep you in the cell”, Ron said. “Then what was the black thing that was drinking my blood?” asked Alex. “Oh, that was just ‘Black Frost’, my pet and he was just licking you”, Ron said laughing. “I am sorry, I scared you. The least I can do is to send you back home”, Ron said. “Can I have a souvenir?” asked Alex. Ron gave him an alien coin to keep. Ron focused all his energy on Alex and a few minutes later Alex found himself back in the tent. Ron’s tribe saw how well Ron had behaved and de-banished him. Alex had to wait a few more hours for his mom and dad to come back so that he could tell them all about the adventure he just had. Alex was sure his parents would not believe him, but he had the alien coin to prove himself…..
8 AGES 6-9 THIRD PLACE: The Night of the Death of Gloria, by Benjamin Gage, age 9 Gloria stumbled over the fence. Ever since she moved into the woods, nothing worked out for her. Her garden would never grow, so she rarely had anything to eat. Because she was so poor and hungry, every now and then she stole from her neighbor’s garden to get dinner. Gloria was a short and old woman. She lived in a small lumber house on a dirt path deep in the woods. Nearby, there was a dirty old woman known as the old witch. They had both moved to the woods long ago. On the day that Gloria moved to the woods, she started to build a fence around her property. Without realizing it, her fence ended up on the witch’s property. When the witch went outside the next day, she freaked out seeing that the fence cut through her property. She peeked over the fence and saw Gloria sitting outside on her back lawn. Since the witch had magic powers, she cursed Gloria’s life. Gloria never knew. Ever since, bad things started happening to Gloria. Eventually, she realized that she had a next door neighbor. She also realized that her neighbor had magical powers. Strange things were happening to her ever since she moved to the woods. Over the fence, she sometimes saw flashes of light reflecting off of the trees. Anyways, let me get on with the story. Gloria brushed the dirt off her vest. She stood fixed to the ground and eyed the old witch’s garden. Gloria picked up the first thing in sight: a pumpkin. She ran, jumped the fence, and then started running again. She could hear the old witch screaming and cussing behind her. Finally, Gloria made it back to her house. She took her sharpest knife, which was covered in wilted lettuce and moldy bread. She peered out of her largest window and watched the full moon shimmer down on her cobwebbed counter. She turned back to the pumpkin. She grinned with her old, dry lips. She muttered to herself, “Stomach, here comes dinner!” Gloria picked up the knife with her right hand and held it over the pumpkin. Her arm shook as she slowly lowered the knife. Forcing the knife down, she groaned from the effort of cutting the strong pumpkin open. Suddenly, there was a bright green explosion. Gloria screamed in shock and fell to the ground. Slowly, a wispy human figure came out of the remains of the pumpkin. The spirit had long, black hair that drooped down to her long, buttoned coat. Under that, she wore rugged, leaf-covered khakis. Her shoes were small and black with glittery, golden buckles. One thing that stood out was her face. She had large, black, beady eyes. Her mouth was like a cave of cavities. Her nose was awfully strange. It was squashed into her face so the nostrils were sticking outward. At first, you couldn’t even tell that it was a nose.
9 She laughed an evil laugh. Gloria recognized this laugh immediately. It was the old witch’s laugh. The body also looked like the witch. “I demand my precious pumpkin back or else!” hollered the old witch’s spirit. “N-no!” stammered Gloria. “Fine,” snarled the witch. The witch drew a small hand knife from her pocket. “Prepare to die!” she gnarled. She slowly drifted towards Gloria. Gloria’s heart raced as the witch laughed an evil laugh. All of the sudden, Gloria’s world went black. No one knows what happened to Gloria that night, and I think for the good of humanity, we are better off not knowing.
10 AGES 10-12 FIRST PLACE: The Madness, by Olivia Chatfield-Scott, age 12 "Run. RUN!" the voice in the back of my head says. "Run!" I obey, the trees grabbing hold of strands of my brown hair, ripping them out of my head with their gnarly fingertips. "Don't let them catch you." I remember my brother, the Dark-Keepers first gaining on him, closer, closer, catching him. Visions of my brother's scarlet -red blood spattered on the fallen maple leaves dance before my eyes, blurring my sight. I shake my head vigorously, silver tears flying off my face as I do so. I must focus or I will end up like him. He wasn't fast enough. I grit my teeth. You think I'm heartless? Maybe so. Only because I am sticking to the number one survival rule; don’t focus on the past, and your heart will be strong enough to withstand any sword. I dash through the fir, maple, and aspen trees, swerving around the rotting corpses of The DarkKeeper's victims so I don't trip. As I gather speed, my surroundings get more blurry. The Dark - Keepers are probably far behind. I stop for a rest, to finally let myself break down for a moment. Why my brother? Why? As my emotions overload, I catch a glimpse of a dark cloak swirling around a shadowy figure nearby. I hold my breath. I start running again. I emerge through the trees, sprinting towards the town. "Maybe I can hide in someone's home...." I think desperately. I zig-zag around a pile of muck and burst into someone's house. "Hide me! Please..." I beg the tall man staring at me. He looks over my shoulder, sees the angry Dark-Keeper outside the window, and quickly shoves me into a closet. "Don't. Make. A. Sound." he hisses in Common, shutting the door. I hear the Dark-Keeper come in the house. "Gulam she na ho'te kimyode'su ka?" the Dark- Keeper growls in the language that all DarkKeeper's speak; Omega. "No, there is no-one in here except me, Ma'am." the man answers, sliding over a bit so he is blocking the door from the Keeper's line of sight, but leaving a crack for me to see by. "Oh, nice cloak you have there! Is it new?" he stalls, bravely looking the disgusting Keeper woman in the eye. The Dark-Keeper makes a facial expression that if you squinted, could probably pass for a smile. "Kono sh'shiki!" "It is? I thought so. It almost looks like silk, it's so beautiful. Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have got things to do, you know? Maybe stop by later." He moves toward her, gently trying to push her towards the door.
11 "Who would want someone as horrible as that to come over again?" I think. But I had a feeling he would get around it. The Dark-Keeper leaves, slamming the door behind her. The man waits a couple seconds, then jogs over to the closet. "You better get out of here quick, kid. There's never only one Dark-Keeper 'round here." He helps me up, pushes me over to the back door, and shoves me out. "Shiishan." I say, then realize he probably doesn't speak my language, Monoshe. But I am mistaken. He nods, smiles, and says, "Ju'ko mell oteha. See you later." I gasp, smile at him, and say, "I hope so. Shiishan, shiishan." I run out into the cloudless green day. Yes, green. It's about afternoon, so the sky has turned colors. I hide behind trees, rocks, houses, and anything that is tall enough for me to hide behind. I run into a stretch of aspen trees again. Seems like aspen trees are the only living plant that The Dark-Keepers spared, for they are everywhere. All of a sudden, I get dragged out of my little reverie by the sudden realization that a Dark-Keeper is right there. Right next to another tree in this stretch. I slowly crouch down, trying to make myself as small as possible. "Darn!" I curse to myself. If I hadn't been daydreaming, as usual, I could have gotten farther away! The DarkKeeper comes closer. "Please don't let it see me..." I beg silently to no -one in particular. Sad to know most wishes don't come true. At least mine, anyway. The figure spots me. Starts coming closer. I scramble to get up, to start running, to hide. Then I trip over a protruding tree root. My head makes a loud crack against the barren, dusty ground. Blood starts running into my eyes, and then into my mouth. I spit the salty-tasting liquid out, quickly swipe the blood out of my eyes, regain my footing, and try to regain my sense of balance. But it's hard since my head is hurting so bad, the world around me is spinning. " Where's that Dark- keeper?" I think, running backwards so I can keep a look out. Then I suddenly have a sense that someone is behind me. I have just enough time to turn around and see the scythe before it swings into my neck. That was when I died.
12 AGES 10-12 SECOND PLACE: The Haunted Dress, by Katie McDonald, age 11 The day it began was quite uneventful. I finished up some last minute homework, watched some TV and went to the second hand store to get a Halloween costume. As we got out of the car, a long gust of wind slashed us. I hid behind the car for protection along with my mom. When the wind died down a little my mom and I sprinted into the store. “Some weather,” I exclaimed to my mother. She laughed and nodded and as we entered the Halloween section of the store. We strode along the aisles as we tried on funny wigs and costumes. Finally, my mother came up to me with a beautiful wedding dress. “You want me to be a bride?” I asked, not loving the idea. “Not just any bride, a zombie bride!” She said excitedly. I immediately knew that this was the way to go. I picked up the wedding dress to get a closer look: It was a long sleeve dress with ruffles and jewels. In addition, it had beautiful ivory lace that shimmered like nothing else in the universe. “It might be a little hard to trick-or-treat in,” mom questioned as she picked up the long train of the dress. “We could cut it just a little,” I said still in awe of its beauty. “I am going to go get the zombie makeup; you just stay here with the dress.” I said to my mom who still, was speechless. After I picked out what I thought was the perfect makeup, I came over to my mom who looked very pale and weak, with the dress high in the air with her hands. “Are you okay?” I asked “I am fine sweetheart, I guess I just feel a little eerie thinking that this was once somebody’s wedding dress and now we are going to cut it up for a monster dress,” my mom said as she began to regain the color in her face. I took the dress from her hands and also felt the sad, eerie feeling my mother had felt. When we got up to the cashier, the girl who was checking us out held the dress up and look confused. ”I have never seen this dress here before,” and put the dress down and that that same depressing feeling filled the air.
13 That night when I got home my mom announced she would be taking the dog on a walk. She asked if I would like to come, but much to her surprise, I declined, wanting to admire my dress that evening. I searched around the house for my dress when from the corner of my eye I swear I saw something move from my bedroom. I walked into the bedroom. Then, something moved again, and this time, it looked like the wedding dress was the thing that moved. The wedding dressed HAD moved, not because of the wind, not because of a mouse, but all on its own it had completely shifted positions. But it didn’t stop there, the wedding dress had gotten up out of the chair. Slowly, a person began to fill in the dress. At first, she was quite beautiful, long blond hair and piercing blue eyes, then the scars and scratches appeared on her pale face. She came over and grabbed my arm so quickly that I couldn’t even react. “You have no idea of the power of this dress, look what it has done to me, burn it, do whatever you have to do to never see it again!” The bride vanished as quickly as she came, and the dress looked like any other dress again on the chair. I ran out of the house and screamed at the top of my lungs for my mother. When I finally found my mother, I told her what happened. But to my disappointment, she refused to believe me. “Fine, don’t believe me, but whatever you do get that thing out of my sight and my bedroom, I am going to have to be something else for Halloween!” The next morning I woke up, and felt sharp pains in my arms. When I sat up, I saw the wedding dress on my body, the sleeves of the dress stained red and the words: “This will be the last warning,” in blood on the wall of my bedroom.
14 AGES 10-12 THIRD PLACE: The Pencil, by Emma Beatty, age 11 It was a cold, wet, foggy morning in October (right after a dark and stormy night) and Steve was almost ready for school. He just had to find his pencil. As he was looking, he heard a “clinkclink-clink”. He looked behind him, but no one was there, only strange pencil-like marks on the kitchen floor. Steve went on looking for his pencil. Then it happened again. “clink-clink-clink.” Steve hurriedly decided he could borrow a pencil in class and he headed off for school. He heard the “clink-clink-clink” as he was walking to school. He continued walking. Then he heard it again. “clink-clink-clink.” “Hey, come back here, you!” You won’t do anything right in school without me!” , a squeaky, mocking voice said. Steve looked around. Who’s voice was that? He wondered. All he saw was a pencil rolling on the sidewalk. He went back and picked it up. I can use this at school, he thought. He pondered a moment about what the voice had said. Steve sighed. He didn’t do well in school. Then he remembered that if he didn’t hurry, he would be late for school. Later that morning, he was trying to write a story in English class when all of a sudden, he couldn’t control his pencil anymore. It seemed as if the pencil had control over his hand. His hand moved up to him, so that he was face to face with the pencil. The bite marks on the pencil turned into what looked like a tiny menacing face. “I can write better than you!” said the pencil, in its squeaky mocking voice. Steve was too surprised to say a word. His hand moved back to his paper. The pencil raced across the page with great speed, (along with Steve’s hand) and erased every word Steve had written, ( not that he had written much) then substituted words of its own for Steve’s. As the pencil was doing this, Steve snapped out of his shock. “Oh no you don’t”, he said. Steve tried to take the bewitched pencil from his hand, but it was stuck like glue. The sinister pencil carried on taunting and writing relentlessly until it had nearly finished Steve’s assignment. The bell rang, and it was time for recess. The pencil dropped down on Steve’s desk. It rolled there like it had on the sidewalk. It looked like an ordinary pencil. As Steve left, he threw the pencil in the trash.
15 When he got back to his desk later, the pencil was inside. “You can‘t get rid of me, you can’t do anything right without me!", said the relentless pencil. Steve tried to sharpen the pencil to shavings, but it kept popping out the sharpener. Steve tried to bury the pencil in the sandbox, but when he went back to his desk, there was the pencil again. ( but this time it looked dirty and smelled musty,) when it was quiet reading time his teacher asked him to walk with her in the hallway and talk about things. “Steve your work is getting better , but you’ve been acting strange today, is something the matter ?”, asked the teacher. “W – w- well’’, stammered Steve, “it was my pencil. It told me it could write better than I do and then it did.” “Steve” , said his teacher, “ you know pencils aren’t alive, you have a wild imagination. You need to learn to see and hear only real things.” “But-” Steve started to say. “Let’s get to back to class,” said the teacher. As Steve walked back down the hall with his teacher, he thought... pencils weren’t alive, so he must have written the paper himself. But how and how could he have thrown away the pencil, buried it, and found it back in his desk after he had tried to get rid of it? It was a mystery, but he decided he wouldn’t let an immortal pencil boss him around. He was puzzled as they walked back into the classroom. Later at math time, he wrote answers in a flurry, wearing the pencil down to a stub and threw it out as he was leaving the last class Friday afternoon. That night, Steve was asleep, despite the storm that was going on. It might seem like the storm and sleeping people were the only things that were happening on Steve’s street, but they weren’t. That was because the other thing that was happening was a “clink- clink-clink” sound coming from the kitchen floor. Steve woke up. The clinking sound got louder and closer, as it was then creeping up the stairs. Steve heard the sound and covered his head with his blanket. "Clink-clinkclink", the sound was now on his bedroom floor! The next day, Steve explained the story to everyone he knew, but no one believed him. He told his parents, his friends, he called relatives who lived out of town and many others, but nobody believed his story. Steve didn’t mind. He didn’t believe it either. But he locked that pencil in a toy safe and put it in his basement. Steve tried to forget about the pencil over the weekend until Monday when he found a pencil with identical bite marks. He looked all around him. Maybe someone had put it in his desk by
16 mistake. He looked up, the teacher was shoving a picture of herself with a black cat in her drawer. She whirled around to look right at him, she winked. He gulped. It must have been she who had given him the pencil that was in his desk. The pencil his teacher gave him he kept, but he didn’t use. He never took another pencil off the sidewalk again. Sometimes in the wee small hours of the night when everyone was asleep, he could hear a “clink, clink, clink” on the kitchen floor.
17 The Last Seen Family, by Jaden Aguilera, 4th grade Chapter 1 It’s the end Once upon a time there was a Family who lived in Oklahoma. The next day there was an earthquake the biggest one ever. HE HE HE. It struck Oklahoma and the two parents were protecting the kids so the kids wouldn’t get hurt then it struck there house making them disappear. The next day John the fathers father went to the house to check on them. Then there door cracked open something came in what was it? The dad yelled HELLO as loud as he could there was no answer then it came out what was it was it a ghost or a vampire or a monster? Hello it said then it said goodbye and all of a sudden it quickly slayed the dad. HE HE HE. The next morning everybody was looking for John. Then they sent Johns brother George went to that house he saw the exact same thing that John did. This time George knew what it was a GHOST. HE HE HE. Then he saw John was on the floor surely dead he was covered in dry blood. Then Gorge saw it again but this time he shot an arrow at it and hit it. Something was strange the arrow didn’t go through the ghost. It killed the ghost. The next day it happened again but they killed the people in their sleep there were only two people left. One was named doctor Doomsday and Oliver Qeen. They went by every ones house only finding two things heads and blood. HE HE HE. So with the work of both of them they turned the people into ROBOTS. Then Oliver forced the robots to build a time machine. When it was done the Robots had Oliver Qeen go through. He stepped in the time machine and his head popped off. Chapter 2 Life Again Maybe When the robots and doctor doomsburg were sowing Olivers head back on they were attacked by the most discusting animal alive. The animal was a baby jaguar. It was so scary that doctor doomsburg pead his pants. HE HE HE. When it was over there was only 2 robots and doctor doomsburg but luckly Oliver was still there. When they were done with oliver he got up his eyes were upside down and his legs were kricked he was a zombie. bugFrom that moment on doctor doomsday never wanted to be a scientist. But he knew how to turn oliver back into a person. So doctor doomsday did turn him into a person. So they had there army fight. They won the war of monsters. HE HE HE. You wouldent know how it felt to be done with the war but as oliver didn’t know it was far from over. That night the worst monster of all came his name was doctor destruction. He slayed doctor doomsday.So it was up to Oliver to totally win the war. Chapter 3 Survial then it happened again the next morning the robots were fighting the monsters when they were done fighting oliver and the robots went to find out who started it. it was doctormadhouse.HE HE HE.oliver shot an arrow at him it misseed he ran out of the room oliver was very nervous he didn’t know what to do he was all alone in that dark and creepy building then it happened. Dr. madhouse went and stabed oliver in the spine. Oliver nearly died so while oliver was on the ground Dr. madhouse walked up to oliver but as far as Dr.madhouse knew olivers robots werent coming but they were. When they barrived they took olivers bow and shot Dr madhouse in the
18 head. Oliver was safe and he sware that that would never happen again. They rebuild the city and it grew and every one lived happily ever after. The Haunted House, by Kylee Bacon, 4th grade One day a family got a new house and the family did not know that the house was haunted. One day when someone was taking a shower the light turned on and off and the water turned off and on. When someone was sitting in a chair and then the chair tipped backwards. Then the family knew that the house was haunted. The family started to pack up it was very hard to pack because the ghosts took out all the cloths. Finally they got all packed up then took off. Once they took off they were still afraid that they were haunted by ghosts. They were not haunted by ghost but they were haunted by a vampire and a zombie one child said we are doomed. They got out of the car and got all of their stuff out of the trunk and ran off. It was so hot they looked behind them the monsters were still behind them. Then they had an idea. You know that vampires and zombies don’t like light then we walk to the lightest cave and then they will die. Do the monsters follow the family to the lightest cave. They looked everywhere but they could not find the lightest cave. Then one night they saw something bright. Can it be the lightest cave? The family walked closer and closer and then found the lightest cave. They looked inside of the cave and then they saw a lot of monsters that were dead because the monsters went to close to the lightest cave and the monsters died. The monsters wanted to run away but the family pulled on their sleeves and put the monsters in their cave. Then the monsters went to the light and then closer and closer and then the monsters died and hanged the monsters on the wall where the other monsters were hanging. Once the family hung the monsters on the cave wall and then left the cave it was a long walk to the car. Then the family got into the car and took off. Now the family was trying to find a new home. The mother was trying to find a home on her phone. The mother found a home on her phone and went to their new home. They went into their new house and unpacked and laid on their beds and went to sleep and the family did not know that the house was still haunted. Once the family woke up and got ready for the day, then someone died from a ghost. The family was afraid that they might die by the ghosts. Then another ghost killed another person. Now the family was very afraid. Then the mother died from another ghost. Then the last kid got killed by another ghost. Then the father died by another ghost. After that day you will be haunted.
19 It's Raining Black Cats and Wolves, by Annabelle Beatty, age 8 One October day it got a little cloudy. The next day it got even cloudier and a few days later it got even cloudier. Until one night when I was about to go to sleep, there was a thunder storm. It was very loud and booming as they always are. It was pouring down, it looked like it was raining cats and dogs, but not ordinary cats and dogs! It looked like black cats and the dogs looked more on the wolflier side, like wolf-dogs. I covered my head with one of my pillows and then I could sleep. The very next morning, I peered out my window. There were black cats out and dogs that looked like wolfs. Everyone seemed to be in their houses. Then I remembered that I was in Mystical Town. Anything could happen in Mystical Town. Oh ! and it was Halloween last night. I somehow screamed as loud as I could. My parents ran into my bedroom! they looked at me. Then they noticed it was raining black cats and wolves. They screamed too. Mama even called 911! And my neighbors did too, but the operators wouldn't believe it, but they offered to send the animal control truck because we said there were probably fifty thousand of 'em out there. We ran to the basement. There we saw a foot of water flooding in our basement. Then suddenly it was gone. My heart was beating hard. I slipped near the basement window and in a flash it flew open. A black cat jumped through and started talking to us and we could understand it. "What's up dudes? " it said, why look so scared? " Then a wolf jumped in and said, " Hey Christa!" "Joe!" Christa the black cat said. They hugged. "What's going on!" shrieked my mother. The cat hissed and pointed its paw out, as if it was saying 'talk to the paw, screaming is ridiculous'. The cat and wolf jumped out the window. I froze for a very, very , very long time. I could hear meowing and howling from outside. "We better get out of town," my mother said. "Like refugees?" I said. "I guess so, if you think about it that way, my mom answered.
20 Soon my dad called 911 again and asked the guy to send the National Guard with a helicopter. They came and got us and our little caged rodents. I look down below from the helicopter and I saw regular cats and dogs in the neighborhood yards. I woke up from a dream feeling confused at first. I stretched and put on my slippers. Then I got out of bed to wake up my family to say, "rabbit" because it is the first of November and the first person to say it gets luck for the month. I looked out my window and saw down in the yard that there were cats and dogs, I guess all the neighborhood cats and dogs were out this morning, but wait, these were not ordinary cats and dogs . They were black cats and the dogs looked on the wolfier side. uh-oh . "Heeeelllllllllllppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!" The End
21 October 31, 2013, by Cedar Bennett, age 12 When humans meet somebody new, they introduce themselves. I don’t know you, you are somebody new. My name is Elvira Barnabas, Mistress of Darkness. And you are Soon To Be Expired. The legends are true. Two thousand years from the Twilight of Zorak, a portal opens, letting in Zorak, along with his frightening army. Frankenstein, Dracula, Bloody Mary, Casper, they will all be let into your world. Except one, who ran away five hundred years too early. Elvira Barnabas. Me. I came to warn the world of the day of decease, the end of all humankind. My name was erased from the list of monsters before you were born, so you may not know me. Two thousand years ago, in a town called Moripa, lived a girl by the name of Elvira Barnabas. Elvira was always alone, and hated by other kids at school. Eventually, her anger built up, towering over anybody who stepped into her path. One day, a boy named Peter Jenkins looked at Elvira as he passed her in the halls. Furious, Elvira grabbed Peter by his collar and screamed in his face, “Listen here Peter Jenkins! You listen to me! You will meet me by Coros Pond today at 3:30 on the dot! A second late, and you shall see the end!” So after school, at promptly 3:31, Peter stepped next to Elvira without saying a word. Elvira, once again, grabbed the boy by his collar. She bit him square on the neck, and threw him into the pond, leaving him to drown. The next day at school, Elvira grabbed a girl named Gaby and instructed her to meet her at Coros Pond at 3:30. Gaby arrived at 3:32. You know how the rest goes. Today, Elvira is known as the Mistress of Darkness, making our lives awful. That’s my story, and now you know the reason I was considered a monster. I hate to say the truth, for it scares me forever. Peter and I were walking by the river, he was angry at me, I betrayed him for nobody. Peter was my friend, but right then, I was the last person he wanted to see. Peter threw himself into the clutches of Zorak, who was patiently waiting in the water. That day, my monster raged inside of me, turning my whole life around. Nobody’s seen Peter since the day he, as Casper, joined Zorak. I really need to see him. I’ve even felt the evil is lurching back into my soul. I don’t know who I am anymore. Today, you rely on my fate. For if I die, life as you know it will end, forever. On October 31, 2013, I turn 2500 years old, the day my full powers assemble. Full power can kill me, hurt me, or leave not a scratch. I do not know what to expect. By the time I understand my abilities, it could be over. October 31, 2013. That is today. I feel evil. I feel sick. I feel like I should hate everything in my footsteps. But today is the day the world changes, and it’s up to me who shall remain standing. Either Zorak’s legend shall end, leaving the world worry free, or Zorak shall rise, forever terrorizing every human as they become his slave.
22 My heart is pounding and my life is changing. I am confused at the world, and at myself. The only thing I can think to do is fly, but I can’t. Or can I? I can feel my hair reaching into the morning sun as I soar above the world, heading to a destination unknown. I decide to let myself relax, but become aware when my usual brown hair starts growing longer and longer as it becomes a solid black color, then twists itself into a tight braid. Next came my clothes, ending in a black masterpiece. Then my skin, changing to be as white as a piece of paper. I now realize I am the Mistress of Darkness, fully. The shock from my feet touching the ground shot up my legs quicker than a bullet. I was surprised to find that rather than walking, I seemed to float above the ground. I was even more surprised when I looked around. I was in the middle of a field full of wildflowers, all dead. The most surprising factor though, was that there was not an insect in sight, and the more I looked around, I noticed that there was nothing alive at all. Then it hit me, Zorak’s portal. I was in exactly the spot the portal closed at 500 years ago, the day I escaped. I was in exactly the spot the portal shall open today, and I am not at all ready. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The ground cracked and crumbled. This was it. The black hole began to swirl, and smoke began to rush out of it. I dived into the abyss, my ears burned but hands froze. “Look who’s back,” a voice rumbled as I slowed to a stop. “Zorak. I have more power than I’ve ever had in my hands. But I’m here for a different reason than you think,” I replied proudly. Zorak raced to my side, grabbed my braid, and yanked it around my neck. I thought it would be the end of me. Slowly, my vision blurred, pain swarmed into my mind, and black took over. When I awakened, nothing was in sight, except for a small slip of paper on my chest. Zorak escaped, but freed us monsters. We have all agreed to join your side, helping to stop Zorak’s next attack. Meet us here tomorrow, when your instincts tell you to. -Peter (Casper) Watch out behind you, Zorak may be peeking around the corner. The attack of 2013 is still on, just changed. Be aware of where you step, you never know what you might get yourself into.
23 Creatures, by Audrey Carter, age 7 Chapter 1 Once upon a time a little ghost lived in a far-away forest. At night the little ghost comes and scares people. At Halloween, a little skeleton comes and scares people too. How, you ask? Well, he comes trick or treating like everybody else… but the person handing out candy says, “I like your costume. It’s almost like I can reach through.” “You can try,” says the little skeleton. “Okay,” he says, laughing and sticks his hand through. “AAAAAAAAAUUGH!” says the candy person. Now you know how the skeleton scares people. Chapter 2 Once upon a time someone was exploring a haunted mansion. That someone was named Lucy. Lucy found many things like ancient crowns and other ancient things. One time she found a ghost. That ghost was little ghost. He tried to scare her. She was frightened. One time she found a skeleton. It was actually Little Skeleton. He was sleeping. Chapter 3 Once upon a time a little werewolf was living with Little Ghost and Little Skeleton. They were best friends. The werewolf only came out when there was a full moon. One time, on Halloween, there was a full moon, so they went trick or treating together. Chapter 4 Once there was a little bat. The bat’s favorite food was bugs because he didn’t eat meat like his friends. His friends were Werewolf, Ghost, and Skeleton. They ate meat. Even Skeleton. But it just falls out. Bat also likes to scare people. He flies out on their heads and they scream. The creatures made up a club named The Scare Club. Chapter 5 While Lucy was sleeping, The Scare Club pretended to be the Tooth Fairy and pulled out one of her teeth and put a dollar under Lucy’s pillow. When she woke up, she was puzzled. Then she remembered the Ghost and Skeleton. She went to the Haunted House and pretended to be a
24 Ghost Hunter. When she caught Ghost, she asked him if he pulled out her tooth. Ghost said, “Yes” and then he realized he’s a ghost! He can go through her. So, he did. Chapter 6 The Scare Club once took a trip to California. They tried to scare people but they didn’t. They tried three things. Ghost tried going through people. It didn’t scare them. Skeleton tried to trick or treat. Everyone thought it was a costume. Bat tried sitting on people’s head. It didn’t work. They decided to go to Florida. That worked. Chapter 7 Once Little Bat had three babies. The Scare Club named the babies Bob, Tom, and Julia. They learned how to fly. Then they learned how to scare people. They were good scare-ers. They scared people by flying into their houses. The babies became part of the Scare Club. The babies were very jumpy because they loved to drink soda. They always jumped around on people’s heads. The people ran five miles because they were so scared. Chapter 8 One time Lucy kept track of the creatures and decided to have them as pets. They all lived in the Haunted House. The End.
25 The House, by Caleb Cenderelli, age 10 I looked up from my map and saw three large gates among some trees. I knew this wasn’t the way to my nephews’ house. It was so dark the moon seemed to hide behind the trees. “Great I’m lost! Which turn did I miss? How did I end up in the woods? My nephews will be so upset. Boy, I don’t like car trips!” Towering above the three gates was a large house with two towers and bats circling around the towers. It looked creepy! I tried to floor the gas pedal, but it didn’t work! Why did my car choose this moment to break down! All of a sudden a bolt of lightning illuminated a three-headed dog that was as tall as the gates it guarded. My door opened by itself and I was drawn toward the gate and the three-headed dog by an overpowering force. All of a sudden a mist surrounded me and all I could see were the gates and the dog. The dog looked like a living shadow except its drool was so green that it glowed in the dark. When the drool hit the ground all the vegetation died. The dog smelled worse than the sewers in New York. I would have hurled if I had food in my stomach. I was terrified. It got worse. “Th…th…the dog talked!” His heads spoke in unison with a voice like fingernails on a chalkboard. “One of these gates takes you to the castle, one will return you here, and one leads to your sudden death.” “Which gate do you choose?” the three-headed dog asked in unison. His left head said, “Go left!” His right head said, “Go right!” His center head said, “Go straight!” The right gate was the farthest from the hideous dog therefore I went right. I ended up right back where I was a second before. I couldn’t believe my rotten luck! I dove into the left gate before the dog got me and made it to the porch of the house. I looked back toward where I thought the gate would be and all I could see was black. Having no other choice, I knocked on the door. A guy wearing khaki shorts and a shirt that read, “I love haunted houses,” stepped out of the house. I was relieved that he looked so normal. He said, “Hello, may I be of assistance?” I said, “Yes, my car broke down and…” He said, “Whoa slow down I can help.” He then jumped off the porch and vanished. With some hesitation I jumped after him into the darkness. It felt like jumping in warm water. When I landed I was next to the guy. As we walked past the dog it moved away. I felt relieved that I didn’t have to talk to the dog again. He fixed my car and gave me directions back to the highway. As I drove off and looked back there were only trees standing where the gates used to be. A chill went up my spine as I sped way.
26 The Woman Who Had a Thing for Souls, by Savannah Chavez, age 12 She was back. You could hear it in the whisper of the trees in the forest. You could see it in the way people kept sneaking glances at the lake. “Where are you my pretties?” she would chant over and over. They say she is looking for her lost children, but she knows, deep in the stone she calls a heart, that her children will never answer. The people always tell the story of the day she disappeared. Have you ever heard of the story of Little Red Riding Hood? It was not a wolf that she stumbled across in those woods that fateful day. You see Red found the woman who had a thing for souls, the woman grabbed Red in a bear hug, whispering “Why did you leave me dearie?” Red stuttered out, “H h h how could I l l leave you? I d d d don’t even n n know you.” The lady ignored her. “ I… will…make… sure… you… never… leave… me…again… soul!” she snarled, her voice getting louder and louder with every word. She stretched out her hand deep into Red’s throat and grabbed her soul! Red crumpled to the ground in a heap, the soul looked like a diamond bright and shining in her hand and in the center she saw what she had been seeking, for oh so long. “A soul you shall find. A pure one, that is one to hide in, one to control” the woman whispered the words of the gypsy seer from years ago. She held it aloft and murmured, “one… one… one!” each time her voice increasing in volume until the woman was shrieking at the top of her lungs. There was a mighty CRACK! And, she disappeared. Everyone believes she died that day but, I think not. She controls Red’s body to make it easier to seek out the treasure she desires and needs. Today I saw Red at our school. She was small for her age, with bright red hair, fair skin and of course wearing a bright red cape. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Juniper (nice to meet you). I am ten years old, and have just completed my first day in the fourth grade. I noticed that Red was not herself today. I should know because I have been seated in alphabetical order since the first grade directly behind Red. After school I walk home alone as usual. I swear Red is following me. “Hi mom” I shout as I burst through the door. How was your day sweetie?”
27 “OK I guess” “I made you chocolate cookies and don’t forget I need to go check on your grandmother this evening after dinner. I may be awhile because she hasn’t been feeling well. Don’t wait up for me. Later in the evening mom kisses me goodnight. “Bye mom! Tell grandma I love her” I shout as she walks out the door. I’m not worried about being alone. I know that my father will be home from work after his shift that ends at 11:00. (How could I know that he was planning on working overtime?) I’m tired and shortly after mom leaves I go to bed. I’m having a hard time getting to sleep. The wind sounds as if it is singing softly” seashells… cockle shells… easy… easy… over!” “Now that’s creepy!” I think as I get up, put on my robe and fumble for the light switch. Someone grabs my arm chanting that crazy song, “seashells… cockle shells… easy… easy… over!” I scream, “Who are you?” “I’m just a friend of your mothers” she says. While she is talking I have an idea. I grab her wrist and yank hard, hoping she would fall over, but, all I manage to do is pull her towards me. I yank her so hard she stumbles into the moon light. She is hideous with patches of red hair, burnt blackened ends, and a ghostly white face with two black holes filled with evil that seem to paralyze me. She is dressed in a black shroud covered with what looks like diamonds, each inscribed with a name. “Hello dearie” she replies in a craggy grandmotherly voice. I’m thinking, she’s only ten years old, what’s with the grown up act? “What are you doing in my house Red?” “I am here to retrieve what was taken from me.” “What was taken from you Red?” I ask. “The wood cutter split my soul in many different parts and I have been tracking them down for centuries, Sunshine.” As she’s talking I break away and run out of the house and into the woods to hide because she’s definitely not in her right mind. I can hear her shouting her story as I run. “THE WOOD CUTTER PUT ONE PIECE OF MY SOUL INTO A 100 DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN THIS STUPID STUPID WORLD!”
28 All of a sudden I trip. You probably know they say that your life flashes before your eyes when you are about to die? Well I see not my life passing in front of my eyes but, the lunatic’s life, the one that I know now to be possessing Red. I can see her moving ever so slowly advancing towards me, knowing that she has won. “Good-by, Sunshine,” she teases in that too sweet voice. She grabs me by the neck and just than I see as her life is passing before my eyes what has caused the pain in this woman’s life before she was a ripper of souls. Turning her into the witch I see before me. I see a piece of paper with a poem written on it. Die, die, die! I say Another day you shall not live Do go, do go, Do go away! Yet, you will not see another day Die! I cannot let you live Do you not hear me? I command it! Then she died I see what it says as she grabs my neck. “Daddy did it” I finally understand her father was the one who caused her to be this way. He cursed her to never be alive or dead. “You will always haunt the earth. I will ruin your life just like you ruined mine.” Jessica, which was the woman’s name before she was cursed, wanted to be immortal and the only way to become immortal was to kill someone close to her. So, she decided to poison her father. With his final breath he cursed her and had her children murdered. My last words before she yanks out my soul and crushes it under her heel are, “I forgive you.”
29 Flarret Furdie, the Scared, by Leander Didier, age 9 Flarret Furdie, the Ferret, was awakened suddenly in the early hours of the morning. He felt cold. He sat up and opened his eyes slowly and sleepily. His burrow seemed to be filled with fog. He blinked, and realized that the fog was green. In the black of night he heard the cry of a bird of prey. Now he was fully awake. He decided he should go outside to see what was happening. He took his flashlight and his heated coat and headed out. (I should tell you here that Flarret is a special ferret. He is an inventor. One of his best inventions is the Heated Coat. It is not magic. It is made of electrical circuits, like an electric blanket, and it keeps the wearer warm in all kinds of weather.) Now back to our story. He stepped outside. He looked in all directions. In the distance he could barely make out a fire burning. He inched closer to the fire. As he got close, he could see a green substance melting in the huge flames of the fire. Flarret started trembling in fear and wanted to return to his warm burrow – but he remembered the fog filling his burrow with a green chill. Being a Ferret, and an Inventor at that – he just had to figure out what was going on. Was this a dream? Then his fear took over again and he decided to find his way back to his burrow – but he couldn’t find his way! Flarret Furdie was lost in his own forest! Just then he heard a terrifying booming CRACK and the earth split before him! The crack was wide enough to swallow fifty ferrets at a time, and so deep that he could barely see the bottom. He crawled up to the edge and peered over. Still more burning flowing green substance, like liquid glass, flowed through the crack. It bubbled and boiled and hissed. It foamed into bubbles filled with white steam, popping and vaporizing. Flarret backed up in fear, turned around and spotted the entrance hole to his burrow, off in the distance. He ran as fast as he could toward it. Just as he reached it and was about to get safely inside, another huge crack split open and separated him and his burrow. “No!” he shouted as loud as he could. He had to get to his burrow; he just had to! He peered into the huge crack, and found that the bottom had the same weird green slime – strangely burning. The only good thing about the situation is the fact that ferrets can jump very far, and Flarret was a particularly athletic ferret. (When he was little he won jumping contests against the other ferrets of the forest.) He just hoped that he could jump far enough to carry him to safety on the other side. He hesitated. If he could only get to his burrow, he could get his newest invention, the All-Dooer. (The AllDooer is a heavy machine on wheels that does anything you command. He had never tried it out on a problem as difficult as the one now facing him. ) Flarret backed up, sprinted to the very edge, and took a tremendous leap. He landed just short of the edge, and was able to grasp onto a mass of dirt on a ledge. The dirt crumbled and fell with him grasping onto it. As it fell he was able to grab onto a thin protruding root. With nowhere to put his back feet, Flarret struggled up the root with the strength of his front arms. His body swung dangerously, but the force of his swing flung him up onto a ledge. The green slime was trickling over the edge of the wall. A rather large snail was climbing the wall too. Just before the slime reached the snail, Flarret
30 grabbed him up safely and held him in his hand. As he held the snail and himself the dirt crumbled and a large rock tumbled down into the slime below. Still holding the snail, he tossed him up to higher ground and took a big lunge and made it out of the crack. He quickly darted into his burrow. In the very last room of his burrow he found his All-Dooer. It was leaking green fog and slime! He wondered to himself: could the All-Dooer have been malfunctioning? Did it do something on its own? There was no time to wonder. He had to fix whatever had been done. He commanded the All-Dooer, “take me back in time 30 million years, to prehistoric times!” WHOOSH! Flarret Furdie found himself on an island. He saw pegs in the ground with rope attached holding the earth together. A crack in the earth was sown up with giant stitches. Suddenly out of the sky swooped a giant prehistoric dinosaur bird with sharp fangs. It cried out with a shriek. It began to attack the rope, tearing it apart. The stitches were coming undone, and the crack in the earth was starting to open up! Flarret managed scare off the bird with his AllDooer by squirting out huge globs of green slime and fire and fog from the machine. He sewed the crack back up and commanded his All-Dooer to take him back home. When he arrived, Flarret found that the crack had disappeared and the earth was healed up. But, there were blotches of slime here and there. He heard a familiar noise, looked up and saw an eagle circling. It looked and sounded strangely familiar. Flarret recognized it at as the prehistoric bird that he had frightened away with the slime and fog. Now, 30 million years later, it had evolved into an eagle. It circled peacefully above, and Flarret Furdie went back to bed. THE END
31 Griffin At School, by Cara Dove, 4th grade Today is the first day of school we are having a new principal. Our old one was really nice I hope this one is too. I walked in my classroom. My teacher was an angel she has beautiful brown hair she has sparkly green eyes. Today we are going to meet the principal. She was walking down the hall and entered the classroom. She is old and has lots of wrinkles my name is Mrs. Bird she said I am the principal she picked up a ruler and smacked it on a desk. Since I am the principal things will change. Now there will be uniforms she left the room lunch the teacher said. At lunch everyone was afraid to take a bit. Mrs. Bird was breathing on my neck her breath stinks. The next day at school everyone was in uniform it was so plain so boring. I am starting to think Mrs. Bird is a bird. Chapter 2 When I got home I drew a picture of what she would look like as a bird. It was the next day at school I was afraid to even look at Mrs. Bird today. Right now she is in a teacher meeting and she probably gets so mad she turns in to a griffin or something. Right as I got home I studied all about griffins. Sometimes the principal brings something for lunch that looks like sand from the sandbox from my house. On Monday I was writing a paragraph on Griffin’s and got a B-. Then the principal walked in and I hid the paper in my jacket. “Are you ok?” said Mrs. Bird. “I was so scared.” I looked up and said “Yes” really quietly. That day when she walked away, I saw a feather on her back. I wonder how old Mrs. Bird is. Maybe she is 100. Maybe she is 1000. Chapter 3 Next month, in November, I heard a growl on the intercom. It was the principal. I knew it was her because it sounded like a Griffin. She probably is a Griffin. Today, I got rainbow tickets. Rainbow tickets are little pieces of paper that you get for being a good student. I was so scared to go down to the office to get my reward, but I went anyways. When I got there I walked into the room and said “Oh my gosh” I ran out the room just as I saw her as a Griffin. I don’t care about my tickets, I care about my life. I ran to the back of the room and threw my jacket over my head. I was really scared now. I remember when I read that book on Griffins. It said that they can turn people into Griffins to that they can multiply. Today after school there is a teachers meeting. She is probably going to turn all of the teachers into Griffins. Then we will not have school. The next day it was picture day. “This is taking too long” said Mrs. Bird. She got so mad that she grew feathers and a beak. She became a Griffin in front of the whole school. I ran out of the room and hid in the bathroom. I came out and she was still a Griffin. Then I was a Griffin. I looked at my hand and all I saw was feathers. I yelled so loud, then I woke up and I discovered it was a dream.
32 The Red Door, by Hadden Eckert, age 10 Creeaak… the door slowly opened and I stepped through. I was investigating this old building before someone decided to destroy it. I wanted to see if it had anything interesting in it and I was pretty sure it would be dangerous, but I don’t think I was fully aware of what I was getting into. As I walked down the hall with my camera, I saw a shadow flash in front of me. “It’s just your imagination,” I told myself over and over again, but I was starting to wonder if I wasn’t alone. I saw that next to me was a large crevasse and I took some pictures. “Whoa!!” I cried out as I slipped – or was pushed – off the edge. I managed to catch the side of the hole with my fingertips and heard my camera taking random pictures. It was too dark to see anything as I pulled myself up until I grabbed the camera from the floor, its light slicing through the darkness. I looked at the pictures the camera had taken. The first few pictures were just of the ceiling. The following pictures showed that it had somehow been sliding along the floor. Suddenly, in the next photo there was a horrible, ugly, bug-eyed creature with slime dripping off of it! I almost shrieked in surprise and fear but I held it in. I needed to get out of here! I started back the way I had come and saw some kind of computer resting against the wall. I picked it up and it turned on automatically. Someone had typed: “The Year 1999: We have created these creatures to save us against war, but something has gone wrong. They eat everything they see. I have kept them behind a red door next to the entrance. If you are reading this, DO NOT OPEN THE RED DOOR!” I found myself standing next to that very door. I was just too curious. I convinced myself that the message was just a trick, and flung open the red door! There was a room and inside the room there was nothing. I sighed with relief and walked out the entrance door, happy to be out of that place. I heard a squeak like a door with rusty hinges and the entrance door burst open with thousands of ugly creatures! I was frozen with fear for the next ten seconds, which turned out to be too long. The creatures were suddenly everywhere, a scraping noise radiating from them. I looked around wildly for a place to hide, but the only spot I could see was the building I had just been in. I quickly slipped inside. It seemed quieter, darker - spookier than it had before. The scraping noise was all around me; yet I didn’t see anything. “Ouch!” I felt something scrape my elbow. I couldn’t stand this anymore! I shoved open the door to get out, half expecting the creatures to grab me. Fortunately, they were all gone – as if they had disappeared. I flew home so fast that it seemed like a blur. That night I felt weird. My vision was different and my breathing grew rapid. I leaped out of the window and ran down the street. I had become one of the creatures and I knew the scratch one had given me had turned me into this. And only thing zipped through my mind: FOOD! The End
33 Frightful Mountain Adventure, by Annelise Eldredge, age 8 It was pitch black as I crept silently up the dark mountain. The dark mountain is blacker than tar. At the top you can see clouds swirling like a tornado overhead. But the worst part is that it is home to the scariest animals. Spiders, owls, bats, toads and many more animals live there. Why did I come here? Oh, I wanted to meet an owl. So, I crept forward very carefully making my way to Owl Forest and went through the thorn tunnel to get there. The first owl I met was named Blood. He was the color of blood except for his wings, tail, and beak. He also had black around his eyes. I asked if he could help me find more owls. To my surprise he agreed. He was actually kind of friendly even though I was still scared. He led me to a huge grassy patch in the forest. There a cloud of bats hung from the trees. When they saw me they jumped up. Blood led me to a carpet in the center of the clearing. I gasped when I saw it. The carpet had the scariest picture on it. The picture showed the forest’s rivers in blood and the animals fighting witches, ghouls, mummies, and other creatures. I sat on it, fearful. The bats picked the carpet up and Blood settled down beside me. Off we went. The bats let me meet all the animals on frightful mountain. I met Slime the toad, Snappefer the alligator, Midnight the bat, Creep the spider and many other animals. We landed in front of a big castle. The bats told me I was in for a special treat. The castle was clearly scary. Blood led me through winding hallways. I could see zillions of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. Finally, Blood stopped. We were in a room made of pure fire stone. Fire stone is golden red and is from deep within the earth and is given the power of fire when a fire dragon breathes on it. In the center of the room there was dragon stone. The dragon stone is a rare stone with the power of fire, ice, the sun, the moon, stars, storms, plants, and animals. While looking at the amazing dragon stone, an evil witch flew in on a broom stick. Her name was Dread. She wanted to steal the dragon stone because she wanted its power! Blood got up and zoomed around the mountain picking up all of our friends. We made a plan to stop Dread from stealing the dragon stone. Then we quickly jumped into action. First, we all separated into different halls that went into the room with the dragon stone. Then we all raced into the room as one half of us chased the witch away while the rest of us got the stone. Once we secured the stone we were invited to a celebration with the dragons. I didn’t eat any of the food though. No fire cones or ice cakes for me! After the party I flew home on a new dragon friend.
34 The Mystery Story, by Gabby Franklin, age 9 One day in October , a week before Halloween a house was built. On the corner of Sweet St., and Spooky Drive. A family moved in the next day. Their names were Alex, Gab-Gab, Jayden, and Cara. The family was almost all kids, and a pet parakeet , Hazelnut. Jayden and Alex were the oldest ,19 years old. Gab- Gab was 12.Cara was 10. Hazelnut was the leader. It sounded funny to other kids. But Hazelnut was the smartest and the funniest of the group. He could talk in 5 languages and was very small so he could hide in small places to spy on someone. He knew karate, and more than 10 other fighting strategies. Once they all were moved in, they wanted to explore the house across the street. So they quickly ran across the street and opened the front door. They tool 10 steps in, WHAM! The door slammed shut “ What’s in my masters home?” a voice boomed. “We’re kids….” Gab-Gab slapped Cara’s mouth shut. They heard footsteps from the kitchen. “Run” yelled Hazelnut. CHAPTER 2: What’s going on? So they ran outside. “ Uh guys” Said Jayden “ our house is gone” “ very funny Jayden” said Hazelnut. “Oh Snap. You’re right”. “Sup dud and dudettes” said a voice, it was a shoe. “ Hey guys, I didn’t mean to scare you, my names Mason.” He rested himself on the grass. They all joined him on the grass. They talked for about an hour or two. “ What happened to our house Mason? Do you know?” “I’m sorry to say, but no. But I think I know someone who would.” Gab- Gab asked “Are you going to tell us?” Chapter 3- The journey begins “There’s a man in the attic, he knows everything. Give him a loaf of bread and he will tell you anything you wish to know. “So they all got up to find a loaf of bread and take it to the attic. “ Sir, are you there?” Cara yelled up the stairs. “Give me a bread and I will tell you anything.” A voice said. “That’s my master” said Mason. “His name is Andrew- the Great and Powerful. “ Chapter 4: Silly Children “Here’s your bread Andrew” said Cara handing him the loaf. “What do you wish to know” “ Where our house is” she blurted out. “Right across the street, silly children.” He giggled. “Have a great day.” Andrew said. So they walked home. “Goodbye Mason, bye Andrew said Alex and Gab-Gab. “ We’ll visit again soon. When they got back they saw Hazelnut on a chair fast asleep. “night, night birdie” Said Cara, putting a blanket over him. “Today’s been a weird day, let’s get some sleep,” said Jayden with a sigh.
35 The Haunted House, by Cooper Guirey, age 10 “I’m bored”, moaned Michael as he sat on the not so soft couch in front of the temporarily useless television. The previous night a storm had knocked the cable out, and the rain still pounded against the window. “Maybe I’ll go down to the basement to see what old, discarded items are left down there to take up space”, he said reluctantly as he slowly and lazily moved towards the dim lit underside of the old house. It had been twenty years since anybody had occupied the dull household, and Michael was beginning to wonder if the house was haunted. Michael was a youth of 9 with short, black hair, a small mouth, and a nose that was bent to one side from a car crash the year before. He wore a plain brown shirt and a pair of shorts that could fit a professional football player. The worst thing was his big, green eyes. They were some kind of birth defect. The bright green things would always seem to glow if you stared at them too long. So, he didn’t have many acquaintances because, well, everyone thought he was a freak. As he reached the bottom of the stairs and began to search for the light switch through murky darkness, there was a slam as the door banged shut. As Michael didn’t scare easily, he just started and said “Oh great. Mom probably opened a window and the wind blew the door closed. Now I’ll never find the switch.” He felt his way around in the dark, and could feel something squishy and scaly. He could feel warm air on his neck. Just as he was about to run back upstairs he heard a tap tap tap in the room. “Rain!” said Michael to himself. He soon realized his fear boiling up inside him. There was no way to hear the rain down here. Gulping, he cautiously continued searching. But he never found the light. As soon as he overcame his fear, there was a bang and an agonizing scream, and Michael fell to the floor. Mom opened the door. “Michael, are you alright?” She called down. The light from the kitchen behind her flashed on a green scaly face with two curved horns. A dark realization came over her face. She screamed and made a dash for the telephone. Next thing she knew, the monster grabbed her ankle and dragged her downstairs. She could hear Michael screaming as she was being dragged across the floor. There was another flash of lightening and she saw Michael covered in monster goo. She tried to scream for him, but there was no sound. Michael’s Mom remembered about his eyes and stared at them. They started to glow and all the goo instantly melted off his body. Michael ran to save his mom and tripped over an old baby toy. Suddenly, Michael’s dad came in and at the same time there was a crack of thunder. Startled at the sudden crash, he yelled and the lights came back on. The green monster was gone. And so were Michael and his Mom. THE END
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37 Enter if You Dare, by Sophie Johnson, age 10 “Whoa!” Kate said as the crumbly stairs creaked under her weight. When she opened the door it made an evil creak. Kate didn’t know if she should go in. The inside of the house was dark, dusty, and gloomy. She didn’t know how she got here, one minute she was walking through the park, the next Kate was at the Shadow Falls house. Kate had heard stories about this place; the stories were about how this house was haunted. Of course she didn’t believe them. Kate was standing on the porch with the door wide open letting the fall leaves blow in. She started to walk in, her conscience was screaming no but her body was forced to move, like an invisible black hole was sucking her into the house. Kate looked around with horror. She saw rats and mice dead and alive scattered on the floor. There was a hole the size of a bowling ball in the ceiling. A large puddle had formed underneath it from the continual rain. She kept walking on. The door slammed shut behind her. She spun around but nobody was there. She went into the kitchen; the tap water was on. It looked like there were maggots coming out of the faucet. There were mouse traps with moldy cheese that looked like it was a hundred years old (which it probably was). Something moved behind her and she heard a noise. She whirled around but nothing was there except a mouse that was caught in a mouse trap. “It must have been the trap when it snapped” she thought but wasn’t so sure. She started to go out the front door when she heard a noise coming from the library. Kate went to the library door. She listened, no sound. She was about to turn around when she heard the noise again. “Squeak, squeak, and squeak”. It sounded like an arm chair going round and round. Kate opened the door. There was a person sitting in an air chair.” Excuse me.” Kate said. Nobody answered. Kate went to the front of the arm chair. “Ah!” Kate screamed. There was a skeleton in the chair. She ran out of the library and to the front door. It was locked. “Help me!” Kate screamed. She was banging the door with her fist. Squeak, squeak, and squeak. That sound! The skeleton was walking towards her! Kate ran like she was an Olympic runner. She sprinted up the stairs and ran into the closest of the master bedroom. Something in the bed moved. A scream rang out. Kate covered her ears. A ghost came out of the bed screaming. Kate was now running around the house like a psycho. All the doors in the house were slamming open and shut. Kate went for the back door. It was locked, too. Kate tried to bust the door open but she couldn’t. She was freaking out now. The skeleton and the banshee were after her, there were doors slamming everywhere, and there was a lot more crazy stuff going on. Kate didn’t know what to do. She had heard that if you talk to the haunter you will be able to save yourself. She didn’t know where she heard this but she would put it at the top of the list of things she had to do. So Kate went to the skeleton and started saying random things to it. The banshee was listening, too. Nothing happened. Kate tried for minutes, hours, weeks, months, and even years. Now she was 56 years old. And still trying to get them to set her free.
38 Kate has been a missing person in Washington DC for 46 years. She was just a 10 year old girl when she entered that house. Twelve years later a boy named Scott walked up the steps. “Come on punk!” the school bully yelled. “You do this or I punch you for a month.” The door opened then Scott went in, never to see the outside world again.
39 The Deep Creepy City, by Andrew Kahn, 4th grade Once upon a time there was a girl and her mom bought the girl a doll. The man that she bought it from said lock it up in the basement when you’re done playing with it, so that what she did. The next day the girl forgot to lock it up in the basement and it came to life the doll said “I’m on the first step I’m on the second step I’m in the hall way I’m in your room look down” so she did. The doll got a nail gun from the basement and shot her against the wall. The mom heard the noise and came to her room and saw the doll the doll shot her and the doll cut off their fingers to put them on and brought them to her finger friends. A few years ago some other family moved in the house. The same thing happened they heard a noise and the doll came out instead of going to the kids’ room the doll went to the parents’ room and killed them. The kid ran out of the house and screamed his head off! That house stayed haunted. The doll screamed to his friend I’m going out!! The doll went to every bodies house and camped out there until night to kill. Another day some weird thing happened zombies came!! They killed 5,000 people last night. The doll liked the zombies and the doll tried to talk to them but they ignored the doll. The zombies tried and tried to break through the brick houses but they couldn’t. The people bought gun and weapons to kill the zombies. The people killed most of the zombies. They went out of their houses and tried to find the rest of them. A zombie snuck up on someone and ripped his guts out! One guy shot the zombie in the head. The doll died from a stupid zombie. There was only 1 zombie left and a little girl found it and killed it. The people won again the people never went in that spooky haunted house ever again. Finally someone moved in and wasn’t afraid of the dead people and through them out in a river and they floated away forever and they were never seen again. The people lived happy and one nights came they heard lots of howling and the people got scared. The next day they woke up and they saw blood everywhere on the ground of the dark streets. They started thinking and the little girl said maybe it was the war last night. They walked around the city. They saw a dead person and a living wolf the wolf heard them talking and it ate only 3 up for breakfast. One guy killed it. Then the people packed all of their stuff and they moved to France. The same thing happened in France so they moved to Las Vegas. Then they built a time machine to teleport to places and they lived happily ever after.
40 The Spooky Story, By Haze Kammerer, 4th grade Chapter 1: Haunted hole Once there was a boy that was walking home. And he fell down a whole and bam something made his head fall off! So he was walking on, it started getting darker and darker. And then when it was pitch black he thought he felt his head so he picked his head up and put it on. Then he started feeling dizzy and then he found light. He took his head off since it was making him dizzy. Then he was felling around and he felt another head and he put it on and it was the right head. Then he looked at the head he had in his hand. And the other head started laughing it was a creepy clown head! And then he saw the body of the head. Then he throw the head on the creepy clown body and kept moving forward. He thought he found the end of tunnel but he was wrong. There was a big room painted in green and blue and in that room he saw his best friend John. He said hey Haze. Haze asked him how he got past the creepy clown. He said he didn’t and Haze said how. Then John was moving around and a zombie bunny was ripping out of John’s skin then guts splattered everywhere. Then the zombie bunny started chasing Haze. Haze ran right into the creepy clown then the creepy clown started chasing him. Then he saw were he from. The zombie bunny tried to hop on Haze but he jumped really high in the air. Then he jumped on the bunny’s head and that gave him an extra boost and he jumped right out of the hole. Chapter2:The freaky forest Haze was just heading back home and he had to go through the freaky forest. So he started walking through the freaky forest. Haze started hearing footsteps and he looked behind him and no one was there. Then he started hearing noises in the trees and he looked up in the trees and nothing was there. So he started walking on and he saw an ax drop right in front of him. So he looked up and again and no one was there. When he was walking on he started hearing zombie noises. So he started to run faster and faster and it sounded like the footsteps were getting louder and louder. Tell he got to his house and all the noise stopped besides the chirping of crickets. So Haze went to his front door. And knocked on the door no one answered. So he just walked right in and saw a spilled drink. Haze heard a shriek and slowly looked up and saw the c c c creepy clown. At the edge of the forest was the zombie bunny, started moving to him. Then the clown started to jump to Haze. But Haze moved out of the way and the zombie bunny and creepy clown bumped into each other. So then Haze ran and ran right into another portal. That gave Haze an idea. So he went back were the creepy clown and the zombie bunny was. When they saw him they started chasing him so Haze and when he reached the portal the zombie bunny exploded so guts went every were and when the creepy clown reached the portal he exploded and John came flying out of the clown. Haze said John is that really you and John said no I am still the creepy clown Haze started to run then John said I’m just kidding. Then Haze thought it was so funny. Then John said that if the clown and bunny went they would explode because undead things can’t go through other portal. Then John and Haze were so happy now.
41 THE END
42 The Forever Frightened Family, by Sofia Mackey, 4th grade Once upon a time there was family there were two kids a boy and a girl they were always getting into trouble. One day the dad decided to take a family vacation. He had found what seemed like a nice place for not that much money. He said, “In two days we will be going to the house. We will stay there for three weeks so go pack and they did. They both felt suspicions about the house so they packed the necessary stuff like night vision goggles, black suits, and plastic swords. Two days later it was time to go they looked at each other and walked out the door. They were going out of the country so it took a while to get there. While they were waiting they played for eight hours. Eight hours later they were there. They grabbed the stuff and looked at the house it was a mansion, it was tall and wide. When they went inside they were amazed and totally forgot about the haunted part. They squealed and went upstairs to unpack. When they got up there they saw millions of books about the haunted murder. The children were so amazed that they dropped their bags and started to read. Chapter Two: The Forgotten When the children got to chapter three in the book they read about a ghost that still lives in the house and the yard of Rottedskull Lake. They stared at each other in amazement. The boy laughed and said “What a fake, a ghost that still haunts.” I would not believe that for a second.” The girl that little and scared said “How do you know? It may be true.” The boy chucked and said “It’s not real. It’s time to go to bed anyway.” Chapter Three: The Believer The next day, Tommy the boy was gone. When Abby woke up she screamed. All that was left of Tommy was a bloody foot hanging from the door handle. The parents ran upstairs to ask what had happened. When they came up to ask what had happened they screamed and yelled “Where’s Tommy?” Abby was screaming and crying. She pointed at the bloody foot. The parents called the police. The police assumed it was Abby because they had gotten in a fight and she was mad at him. No matter what she said, they would not believe her. So, they kept her in a temporary cell. The next day the police told her what had happened. They said that the father had gone missing and all that was left of him was his hand. The mother came and took her home to look. They went looking at Rottedskull Lake. Nothing was there but a clue. There was a blood trail that led to the haunted forest so they started walking to the forests. As soon as they walked four feet into the forest they heard screaming. They saw the boys with all of their limbs. The other ones were fakes. They found them, but they still didn’t know who did it. The little girl said, “I don’t know who did it, but we know that it is dangerous and he or she does not want anyone to find out who it is.”
43 The Haunting Hour, by Mikyah Moore, 4th grade Once upon a time a family moved into an old house. Little did they know that something was going on. Up in the attic a mad scientist named Dr. Destructo and his weird sidekick Gorey but people called him Gore. The family down stairs were eating dinner when Steve, the dad said it was time to go to bed to the two children Ben and Anna. Ben and Anna shared a room. Ben didn’t like it because Anna was very superstitious. Upstairs Dr. Destructo was planning on how to scare the family out of the house. Gore was sitting down waiting for an idea to come to him. Dr. Destructo didn’t think he was doing anything so he said, ”don’t just sit there. Get up and help me think!” Gore felt so angry he went down stairs where Dr. Destructo couldn’t yell at him. He secretly climbed into Anna’s bed. Anna was a very deep sleeper so she didn’t feel a thing. About one hour later. Ben woke up and said,” Anna what’s that behind you?!”Anna turned around and screamed. Ben grabbed a broom and knocked the living day lights out of him. Chapter 2 The Chase Gor went to Central Park to think when the clock struck mid night. Jack Alantern walked up behind him. Jack Alantern was the evilest, scariest, meanest villain of them all .He saw who? Ahhhhhh Gor screamed like a little girl and the chase began. Gor ran and ran until he thought he lost Jack but he was wrong Jack was standing right behind him. So he ran back to the house. He ran inside and shut the door. Jack was outside banging on the door Jack said ”I just want you to come with me to the dark side.” Jack knocked down the door violently and took Gor. Ben and Anna heard all of the banging and commotion so they rushed down stairs but nothing was their but an open door and a gentle breeze. They thought the case was very very mysterious. They began to get even more scared and frightened then they already were. They both went up the stairs, and got into bed thinking it was all a super scary dream. Chapter 3 The Dark Side Gor was hanging a pot of boiling hot green acid.” I will kill you now” Jack said. ”Just let me lower you a little bit more” said Jack. Gore replied “The jokes on you. I have over 50 weapons on my utility belt.” Jack yelled at his spider monkey named Froggybob.” Go and take all of his weapons but one so that I will have a little competition. Do not climb on the rope or it will snap and it can’t hold both of you. By that time it was too late. They had both fallen. The spider monkey fell into the boiling hot acid while Gor managed to hang on a ledge with just three fingers. Jack said, “What!, Noooo how could this happen? I will get you next round.” “Wait, I guess this is the only round so I guess you win.” Gor let go of the ledge onto the throw pillow on the floor. Gor then ran off into the night back to the house, calling Dr. Destructo’s name. He told Dr. Destructo the whole story of what happened. He was not listening most of the time. He thought he was just making up stories. It was morning and the kids went back up into the attic and nothing was there. It was all just a dream…. or so they thought. They weren’t at home. Nobody knows what happened to Jack or Gor or Dr. Destructo. Ben and Anna
44 told their parents what they thought had happened. They left and everything became normal. For now…. The End
45 The Legend of the Deathly Shadow, by Aritra Nag, age 11 One day, a man was walking back to his cottage in the woods from the city, where he worked as a blacksmith. As he was walking, suddenly he noticed a peculiar shaped shadow started following his footsteps. He started to run, but no matter how fast he went, the shadow was able to keep up easily. He was really panting and getting very tired. Suddenly, the mysterious shadow vanished. He was a little suspicious, but the thought that the shadow was gone comforted him enough that he slowed back down to a walk. At this time of the day, the beautiful colors of the sunset were just fading and the sky was becoming dark. The bright moon was soon up. He looked to the side and saw the shadows of the gnarly trees starting to sway in the moonlight, as a strong wind picked up. As soon as he looked back down the path, the shadow appeared directly behind him. His heart skipped a bit, he immediately turned around. He was ready to sprint but within a moment, it appeared right in front of his face, with its mouth gaping like a hungry monster. The holes in his eye sockets were staring straight into his eyes like lasers. He felt the life being sucked out of him. He dropped to the ground as lifeless as can be. About an hour later, he woke up only to find himself in his own house, he was found lying unconscious by his son who dragged him home. As he opened his eyes, he found himself, lying on his cot, with a hot rag on his forehead and a bowl of soup on the table on the side of the bed. As he looked up, he saw his wife and his two sons standing over him and inspecting nervously. He started told them what had happened on the way back. His family thought that he had surely gone insane. His wife gave him some medicine and he fell asleep, fatigued. The next morning, he woke up weak but ready to go to work. He ate a hearty breakfast and went to the city again for his daily work. At the end of the day, it was time to go home. On his way home, he saw the creepy shadow again, just like the previous day. Again, it appeared right in front of him and seemed to suck the life out of him. This time, when he found himself lying on his cot, his family thought he worked too hard and so fell ill because of his age and exhaustion. The man became bedridden for many days. He woke up to a breakfast of oatmeal, fell back asleep, woke up to a lunch of soup, fell back asleep, woke up to take his pills, and ate his soup leftovers from lunch for dinner. Each day, the routine was repeated. Finally, after about a month or so, his family agreed that he had enough energy to go to work. His family was running out of money. He went to work the next day. That night, he walked home triumphantly because he had just finished forging a nice metal fixture. He was fearful and thought about the shadow but tried consoling himself that it must have been his imagination. Ghosts don’t exist, he thought. He crossed his heart and kept walking. No sooner he crossed the bridge that led him to the wooded path, he saw the shadow appear behind him and started to follow him.
46 This time he pulled up his courage. He said, “You can’t scare me,” but his voice seemed weak and muffled. The shadow replied with a raspy voice, “I may not be able to scare you, but I can suck your life out of your body.” Hearing that, the blacksmith’s face became pale white. He started walking briskly. The shadow sped up. It jumped in front of him. The man’s whole body became weak and he fell to the ground, his face hitting the road. Again, his life was being sucked out of him, and it was more powerful than ever. The shadow started to spiral and turn into a ball. The ball was hovering straight in the air. It flew around for a second, and then sped straight into his heart. The man fell over, winced, and writhed. His face became dark. He tried to speak. With some effort, he heard him say, “What just happened?” Oh no. His voice was raspy, just like the shadow. He realized the horrifying reality. His body was the shadows’ host. Now, he would walk around sucking life out of innocent people, to feed himself. He was a nightmare. He screamed and ran away. Nobody ever saw him again. His wife and son searched for him everywhere and at last they assumed he was dead. What they didn’t know was that he was now possessed and was running around hurting and killing people and getting stronger as he drew life juice out of his victims. People were just vanishing, and nobody knew the reason of the problem. Nobody knew the reason that he was dangerous. He was a murderer. He was a monster.
47 The Tarantula, by Aubrey Petersen, age 10 “AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! GET THAT THING OUT OF MY ROOM!” Screamed Anna. “Come on don’t you want to hold it,” said James. “Mom!” “Yes, Anna.” replied her mother. “James got a tarantula for his birthday.” “WHAT!” “James come into my room right now!” “Why?” asked James. “Who gave you that tarantula?” “Dad.” “Rex why did you give James a tarantula?” “He asked for it.” said dad. “Does it have a cage?” “Well of course.” “James do you promise you will take care of it?” asked Mom. “Yes, I promise I will take care of my tarantula” “Good.” “Oh wait, do you promise to not scare your sister?” “Yes, I promise. May I leave now?” “Yes, you may.” When it was 9:00 pm Anna and James went to bed. During the middle of the night Anna woke up screaming from a terrible dream. It was about the tarantula. It crawled into her bed. The rest of the night Anna couldn’t sleep.
48 When the sun came up Anna got ready for school. Anna couldn’t focus in school all day, the only thing she could think about was the tarantula. When Anna got home she ran and looked to make shore the tarantula was still in its cage. Whew, it was still there. The whole week Anna kept having bad dreams. When she got home from school Anna was looking at her colander and realized that Halloween was only four days away! Anna was looking for her custom when she heard her brother scream. She ran to look at what had happened. Her brother was looking at the tarantula’s cage it was empty! They looked for the tarantula and they found it under his bed eating a fly. After that Anna found her custom in the basement. It was a jelly fish. On the day of Halloween Anna got into her jelly fish custom and went to see if her brother was ready, he was in the bathroom so Anna waited for him. After he was done changing into his shark outfit they left the house to go trick-or treat. They went to door to door till their bags were filled to the top. Once they were home they went to James’s bedroom where they were trading their candies when the doorbell rang. Anna and James raced to the door, Anna won. At the door was a bunch of trick-or treaters so Anna ran and got the bowl of candy and handed treats out to all the kids. Anna’s grandma and grandpa came over to visit. They brought a lot of candy! James got a Three Musketeers candy bar, Anna choose a Butterfinger. Anna really liked Three Musketeers so she traded with her brother. After their grandparents left Anna got her pajamas on. When she was done her mom called everyone together to read a spooky story. The story was called The Ghost in the Graveyard this is a summary of the story: There once lived a beautiful little girl who died of a horrible sickness. She was buried in a graveyard with flowers, trees, and rocks for a path. It was very pretty, but on Halloween night she would haunt the graveyard. There was a man who did not know about the haunting. The men enter the graveyard on Halloween and got supper scared. Now no one has ever seen him again. It was now 7:30pm and Anna was going up the stairs when she heard her brother say “OH, NO!” Anna walked to his room and saw that the tarantula was gone again! Anna and James looked for hours and never found it. By10:00pm they had to give up. Anna went to bed with a terrible feeling. Days have passed and the tarantula has never found! Anna soon forgot and it all was fine, but beware the tarantula is still lurking some were.
49 15 Days in a Canyon, by Nate Redstone, age 10 In the year 1910, Mike Colvin was on his way to discover fossils of an undiscovered species. Fiddling with his unlicensed equipment, he is not aware of the dangers of how metal affects flight. Suddenly, as the passengers were travelling over a profound pit of pure darkness which looked as though it was trying to coax the plane to enter its mysterious depth, the aircraft lost its balance, shaking not only the people but their thoughts. Stunned by these circumstances, the passengers lost the ability to control their fear. And there before their very eyes, the plane takes a deep, fatal dive toward earth. Those who escaped died of starvation in this barren wasteland and were prey for vultures while others died from the crash. Only Mike and a crewman name Joe McClouth survived. Unfortunately, Mike lost an eye and as for Joe, he broke his neck although he still lived. In distress, Mike tried to search for an entrance out of this gloomy canyon leading to another world. Making great effort to climb its steep, sleek walls, Joe’s attempt failed miserably because of his injury. Mike tried to stay calm and think of a way out before they became prey to the creatures that had already inhabited this place. Knowing that there was no way out, they decided to make do with what they had-- broken uranium detectors which were oozing mercury, a few ragged coats, and little provisions of peanuts and chunky milk. The first night was misery. After their food supply crumbled away, Joe’s hunger took over, causing him to grow sharp talons with bulging eyes of fury. If he had known better, he would have realized that a demon with pitch black eye sockets whose name was Zorak had possessed him. Foaming a white, frothy powder, Joe’s need for food was stronger than ever. Searching for food, he noticed innocent Mike sitting around pondering his life. With Joe slashing at his chest, Mike felt like falling face flat on hard asphalt. Mike was completely unaware that the demon had passed from Joe to him, causing Joe to fall in to a deep, depressing sleep. After 14 days, Joe finally woke in the darkness feeling quite disoriented. He tried his casual routine. Feeling as though his sickness could destroy the world, he cried “Put me out of my misery!” Suddenly, without further notice, the mercury from the uranium detector trickled down his throat! Amazed at what had just occurred, he noticed two fearsome red eyes glaring at him. One of the last things he heard was “I’m Migron the Devourer of 1,000,000 Souls—Conqueror of the Universe!” He now knew that Mike was attacking him, and that Mike had been possessed quite a good time longer so that the demon had developed to be a much a greater threat than when Joe was possessed by a demon. Today, Migron haunts and murders people who fear him, murdering them by showing them their worst nightmare. For those who don’t fear him, they must remember he is a crafty foe who will do everything to dominate you. The End.